Ann Althouse gets herself twisted in a writhing little ball of outrage about an article on CNN:
CNN idiotically imagines: "Al Qaeda offers 'condolences' for innocent victims."
That is a CNN headline purporting to summarize an English-language apology that is phrased thusly:
"We express our condolences to the families of the Muslim men, women and children killed in these criminal acts and we ask Allah to have mercy on those killed and accept them as shohadaa (martyrs)...
"We also express the same in regard to the unintended Muslim victims of the mujahedeen's operations against the crusaders and their allies and puppets, and to the countless faceless and nameless Muslim victims of the murderous crusades..."
There isn't even an expression of "'condolences' for" the victims. It is "condolences to." To not for. If you went to the funeral of a murder victim, you'd express condolences to the family, and it would in no way suggest that you were taking responsibility for the death. The murderer could express condolences for what he did. And here, the people CNN portrays as "innocent" are the very people Gadahn is calling the murderers!
It is mind-boggling stupidity. At least the quotes are there to let readers see how embarrassingly stupid it is.
Actually, what's interesting about this story is that the quotes aren't there to let readers see the real story. (Otherwise it certainly wouldn't be worth posting about anything a muddle-brain like Ann Althouse has to say.) I noticed the discrepancy between CNN's story and the facts yesterday. I don't want to further Al Qaeda propaganda, but I also don't like seeing such deliberate MSM propaganda (and the braindead outrage it provokes on the right) pass unchallenged either.
The wire story from AFP (Agence France-Presse) adds the context of this Al Qaeda apology that CNN has carefully, and obviously purposefully, edited out, presumably to feed the confusion and outrage of wingnuts like Ann Althouse. In fact the point of the Al Qaeda video is to deny that they're involved in these bombings at all.
Al-Qaeda 'not behind Pakistan bloodshed': US militant
(AFP) – 1 day ago
HONG KONG — An American member of Al-Qaeda on Saturday issued a video denying the organisation was behind a recent deadly string of attacks in Pakistan that have killed hundreds of civilians.
Adam Gadahn said in a video entitled "The Mujahideen Don't Target Muslims" that the organisation was being framed by the United States and Pakistan and blamed the media for helping implicate Al-Qaeda in the attacks.
"The mujahideen have condemned, and continue to condemn, all attacks which indiscriminately kill and wound innocent Muslims," he said according to a transcript from US-based monitor IntelCenter...
In the video, Gadahn refers to "un-Islamic bombings which target Muslims in their markets, mosques, schools, shops and streets".
"The mujahideen declare themselves innocent of these attacks, and pronounce them part of a cynical, calculated and clandestine international campaign by the secular political forces," said Gadahn.
Whether that's true or not, I don't know. I do know it's a significant part of the story and one that for whatever reason hasn't made its way into the CNN reporting. In fact, the CNN story is written in such a way as to imply that Al-Qaeda is taking responsibililty for these bombings and apologizing for the unintended victims it's including in its massacres.
The video itself is easy enough to find - here. This is what it actually says:
But what the puppet media don't tell you is that the mujahideen have condemned, and continue to condemn, all attacks which indiscriminately kill and wound innocent Muslims in their markets, mosques, streets, schools, and homes.
The mujahideen declare themselves innocent of these attacks, and pronounce them part of a cynical, calculated and clandestine international campaign by the secular political forces, devious intelligence agencies, and obedient puppet media, designed to drive a wedge between the mujahideen and the same muslim public which has for more than eight years backed and supported them in their victorious jihad against the Crusaders and their allies in the Pak/Afghan region.
It then goes on to offer condolences for the families of those killed in these "criminal acts" as well as for any civilians hurt in their own (mujahideen) operations.
A news agency should be dispassionately reporting the facts, whatever they are, not trying to tailor them to sell a story line designed to further demonize The Enemy and work up the passions of the domestic audience for more, and more justified, war. Or is that just too impossibly old school for corporate media whores like CNN?